Time to kill
McConaughey and Zellweger take a Chainsaw to their careers
If McConaughey gets the best role, Zellweger--bespectacled and frumpy at the beginning, dolled up and hoarse by the end--gets the most thankless: Her script must have read, "Scream. Run. Scream." The 1974 original was creepy mostly because of its set pieces, the house strewn with odd skeletal sculptures and human pelts; and Leatherface was a genuinely horrifying dude, a monster with the world's biggest carving knife. But The Next Generation turns Leatherface (here played by Robbie Jacks, an Austin songwriter who used to host a smacked-up radio show with Butthole Surfer Gibby Haynes) into a cross-dressing nancy boy who screams more than he saws.
The only creepout comes when Rothman (James Gale), sporting a natty suit and a bad hairpiece and a chest plate made of someone else's flesh, shows up near the end and licks Zellweger's face. But by then, the whole damned thing has become just a little monotonous--everybody yells and fights and fights and yells and yells some more. Hey, shut up and die already.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation.
Renee Zellweger, Matthew McConaughey, Robbie Jacks, Tonie Perenski, Joe Stevens. Written and directed by Kim Henkel. Opens Friday.
Now Showing
Find capsule reviews, showtimes & tickets for all films in town.
Join My Voice Nation for free stuff, film info & more!
![Police Say an Asian Massage Parlor and Far North Dallas House are Part of a Massive Prostitution Ring [Updated]](http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/common/assets/707009.75x75.jpg)
